Nightlife In Galway

When I was there in 2010, I stayed at a B&B near Eyre Square. This square literally shut down early evening so stay away from that area unless it’s changed.
I suggest staying in the City Centre. Shop Street (Sráid na Siopal) is the main drag and is a pedestrian street so you should be fine there.

I like Tigh Neachtain. It’s a pub with traditional Irish music. The pub has been there for well over 100 years.

we like the area west of the river. The Crane Bar always has music, as do the Bierhaus and Carrolls nearby.

the main pedestrian drag east of the river has a few places right near each other.

Tigh Choilli (or something similar) is very crowded but that might have been a bad night. good music but crowd was very young and very drunk. players had to struggle to take possession of the reserved booth, and ended up at the other end of the room.

I was in Galway during the Galway festival a few years ago. During the festival, there were lots of people -- but not crowds -- in Eyre Square park in the evening with booths selling beer and other food and beverages. There were also performances throughout the city every evening during the festival. My impression was that the venues such as the theatre I attended have an active schedule year round. There are also pubs that have trad music in the evenings. The Western hotel, above Eyre Square, where I stayed, has a low key friendly pub that features trad music some nights and other live music on other nights. I beliee there are also some night clubs and comedy clubs.